Before kicking off a game that required knowledge of current affairs, Donnelly asked the contestant if she had watched the news this week. She said no, to which Donnelly replied: "For some of us it's been unavoidable."

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Early on in the show, Donnelly showed audiences the soon-to-be closed studio he, McPartlin and Cat Deeley presented a children's TV programme in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Before the programme, Saturday Night Takeaway's Twitter account posted a picture of the evening's script that only featured Donnelly's name.